Doug Denny resigns from the UK Independence
Party.

I am very sorry to have to say, I have today made the decision
to resign from UKIP.

By being deselected as the candidate for Portsmouth South it
has made my position in the party untenable and impossible to
support the party any longer.

Nigel and the leadership hierarchy have demonstrated
conclusively that they are willing to manipulate the MP
candidates' selection process by the ruse of proclaiming
chosen 'targetted' seats, and have changed the rules
recently to allow this to be done, and where the NEC can choose
the candidate rather than the membership of the branch. Those
choosing will be under the shadow of Nigel Farage.

It is direct interference with the fundamental principles of
democracy in the party.

The changed rules allowing this interference (which are on the
website) state any decision in choosing a candidate is to be made
jointly by the NEC and with
the branch constituency concerned. No such
discussions happened with Portsmouth South, where I have assisted
the chairman and others in starting the branch and obtaining six
councillors in the recent local elections from nothing
before.

The deselection was arbitrarily announced with no consultation
or warning to branch chairman or myself. I am apparently,
"free to stand anywhere else" - but not in Portsmouth
South ! This is sheer nonsense by any standard, and reflects the
cynical desire to stop a particular candidate now it is known
(after eighteen months of the candidate becoming known publicly
as the UKIP candidate for the election) ....that it is a winnable
seat. What hypocrisy! what anti-democracy shown by the party that
declares it is the only truly
democratic party in Britain.

Blatant interference with constituency candidates has never
been done before in UKIP, and especially where an already
properly adopted canidate for a general election was exclusively
chosen by the constituency branch members. What has happened to
Portsmouth South is in my opinion immoral, undemocratic, and
deeply corrupt.

This gerrymandering by subtle manipulation of the
candidates' listings was introduced for the first time in
UKIP with the MEP selection process too, promoted by various
officers at top level and others. I became very unpopular at the
top by trying to stop it. Perhaps I have lived with knowing what
I believe to be inherent corruption in the party for far too
long, and been nieve in thinking I could ameliorate it.

UKIP has come of age in British politics. It was for a while,
but it is no longer, the truly democtratic "Peoples
Party" its leader proclaims. No longer is it the political
party "different to all the rest by being transparent and
honest" ...which I joined in 1999.
Sad but true.

ON a more positive note: UKIP has nearly completed its task
and it's only role in British politics, which I set out to
help accomplish over twenty years ago, initially with the
Referendum Party - to force the other political
parties into a position to give the British people a referendum
on membership of the EU. This is now being
implemented by the Conservative Party due to the pressure of
UKIP.

Once a referendum is achieved, UKIP's original role is
then finished. It's raison d'etra will then be extinct,
and as a party it will fade into the obscurity of footnotes in
history. Nevertheless, I am still proud to have been a part of it
for over fifteen years to help being it to its peak now and force
a referendum for the British people on remaining in the EU.

Douglas Denny.

Promoted by Mike Nattrass on behalf of Independence from Europe, both at 48, Fentham Road, Hampton in
Arden, B92 0AY.
Copyright 2014 Mike Nattrass MEP. All rights reserved.
Copyright of individual pictures and their respective authors is
acknowledged.